Lyons: Superintendent took shortcut on first assignment

Published: Monday, March 25, 2013 at 7:15 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, March 25, 2013 at 7:15 p.m.

Several years ago, some Lakewood Ranch High School honors English students got into trouble, and into the news, over a tough summer assignment.

They were supposed to read a daunting piece of literature, the Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh,” and write about its themes and symbols.

Not how I used to spend my high school summers. And some of them didn’t, either. They wormed out of the challenge by stealing from Internet sources.

Some failed to mention taking ideas from writers they found online. Others did, but took more than knowledge and ideas. They took vast numbers of exact words and cut and pasted them into their own reports as if their own.

For a while, they may have looked smart and wise and more devoted to the task than they ever were.

Copying the work of others is easy. It is usually equally easy now to catch students at it, by doing Internet searches on suspect paragraphs.

I pleaded for leniency. As teenagers, they needed another chance. But they also needed to be firmly taught that stealing someone’s written words is a fundamental sin. They needed to know that transgressions like that later in life could mean far worse consequences than a flunked assignment grade, extra homework and a shaming lecture.

Now, Rick Mills is the embarrassing example. What a way to start his new job as superintendent of the Manatee County School system.

As you may have read in a Herald-Tribune news story, Mills’ arrival included his written “entry plan,” something he says School Board members had seemed to want from him. In it, he explained his plans for learning about and leading the Manatee County school system.

Mills never claimed every idea in his plan was his own. He openly said, at the bottom, that “the foundation” of the plan came from a plan written by a well-respected educator.

That would be fine, and Mills’ had the man’s permission.

But did Mills really get two masters degrees without grasping the distinction between crediting someone else’s ideas and flat out taking another’s words as if they were his own, which is not at all fine?

Of course not. But Mills just told me this is different. Though he wishes he had put the name of the author of all those words at the front instead of as a too-vague credit at the end, he never meant to deceive. And this is a school system plan, not a graduate school thesis, he said.

“It’s boilerplate,” he said, so the exact words are no big deal. It is a document, a plan, something anyone might use when taking on such a job.

I don’t know about that.

If Hemingway said I could use “The Old Man and the Sea” as a basis for a column, I couldn’t use a page or a chapter without without naming the original author. And what difference would it make where the work was published?

Anyone who thought, “Hey, Mills explains his ideas so well, and he shows he has really spent time thinking about this,” was bamboozled.

After being called out on this by a Herald-Tribune reporter, Mills added more appropriate attribution. But, as with those kids at Lakewood Ranch High, the assignment had already been turned in.

Yes, it was just an entry plan, not a work of art. Mills had not entered it in a writing contest or submitted it to an academic journal.

But the same could be said of those Lakewood Ranch High students. They just saved themselves some summer vacation time by not really writing their own reports. It was just homework, so why reveal that they did not take time to think and learn enough to put things in their own words?

I wish Mills a quick recovery from this stumble on his way in the front door. I hope he does a great job as superintendent, no matter how many of his management ideas are his own or ones learned from reading and listening.

But does Mills really have an entry plan, and a grasp of the leadership ideas implied in the one he turned in? Don’t know. That cut and paste job is as revealing to me as Babylonian symbolism.

<p>Several years ago, some Lakewood Ranch High School honors English students got into trouble, and into the news, over a tough summer assignment.</p><p>They were supposed to read a daunting piece of literature, the Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh,” and write about its themes and symbols.</p><p>Not how I used to spend my high school summers. And some of them didn't, either. They wormed out of the challenge by stealing from Internet sources.</p><p>Some failed to mention taking ideas from writers they found online. Others did, but took more than knowledge and ideas. They took vast numbers of exact words and cut and pasted them into their own reports as if their own.</p><p>For a while, they may have looked smart and wise and more devoted to the task than they ever were.</p><p>Copying the work of others is easy. It is usually equally easy now to catch students at it, by doing Internet searches on suspect paragraphs.</p><p>I pleaded for leniency. As teenagers, they needed another chance. But they also needed to be firmly taught that stealing someone's written words is a fundamental sin. They needed to know that transgressions like that later in life could mean far worse consequences than a flunked assignment grade, extra homework and a shaming lecture.</p><p>Now, Rick Mills is the embarrassing example. What a way to start his new job as superintendent of the Manatee County School system.</p><p>As you may have read in a Herald-Tribune news story, Mills' arrival included his written “entry plan,” something he says School Board members had seemed to want from him. In it, he explained his plans for learning about and leading the Manatee County school system. </p><p>Mills never claimed every idea in his plan was his own. He openly said, at the bottom, that “the foundation” of the plan came from a plan written by a well-respected educator.</p><p>That would be fine, and Mills' had the man's permission.</p><p>But did Mills really get two masters degrees without grasping the distinction between crediting someone else's ideas and flat out taking another's words as if they were his own, which is not at all fine?</p><p>Of course not. But Mills just told me this is different. Though he wishes he had put the name of the author of all those words at the front instead of as a too-vague credit at the end, he never meant to deceive. And this is a school system plan, not a graduate school thesis, he said.</p><p>“It's boilerplate,” he said, so the exact words are no big deal. It is a document, a plan, something anyone might use when taking on such a job.</p><p>I don't know about that. </p><p>If Hemingway said I could use “The Old Man and the Sea” as a basis for a column, I couldn't use a page or a chapter without without naming the original author. And what difference would it make where the work was published?</p><p>Anyone who thought, “Hey, Mills explains his ideas so well, and he shows he has really spent time thinking about this,” was bamboozled.</p><p>After being called out on this by a Herald-Tribune reporter, Mills added more appropriate attribution. But, as with those kids at Lakewood Ranch High, the assignment had already been turned in.</p><p>Yes, it was just an entry plan, not a work of art. Mills had not entered it in a writing contest or submitted it to an academic journal.</p><p>But the same could be said of those Lakewood Ranch High students. They just saved themselves some summer vacation time by not really writing their own reports. It was just homework, so why reveal that they did not take time to think and learn enough to put things in their own words?</p><p>I wish Mills a quick recovery from this stumble on his way in the front door. I hope he does a great job as superintendent, no matter how many of his management ideas are his own or ones learned from reading and listening.</p><p>But does Mills really have an entry plan, and a grasp of the leadership ideas implied in the one he turned in? Don't know. That cut and paste job is as revealing to me as Babylonian symbolism.</p>